Matt Gurney: McGuinty demands the opposition stop playing political games with his political game

Ontario Premier McGuinty demands opposition stop ruining his political game

The day after the Speaker of the Ontario Legislature ruled that the Liberals had prima facie breached the privileges of the legislature in refusing to hand over documents requested by the opposition, Premier Dalton McGuinty struck back. Or at least he tried to.

The matter relates to the cancellation of two proposed power plants by the McGuinty Liberals. The Liberals had insisted, for years, that the plants were needed to meet electricity needs in the Greater Toronto Area. They stuck to their guns on this even in the face of intense and sustained local opposition to the plants. But ahead of last fall’s provincial election, when it became clear that the Liberals were in a fight for their political lives and could easily lose the next election, poof. The power plants were cancelled. The Liberals ended up holding the seats, and winning a strong minority government.

At the time, they denied their actions were politically motivated. No one believed them, and Energy Minister Chris Bentley eventually confirmed the obvious — the decision to cancel the plants did indeed come from the Liberal election campaign, and not from the government. The Liberals have tried to hide the costs of the cancellation from the voters, however. They were eventually forced to admit that cancelling a plant in Mississauga cost the taxpayers at least $190-million that the province doesn’t have. But the Liberals have refused to release documents concerning the cost of cancelling another plant, this one in Oakville. It is their refusal to release those documents that resulted in the finding of a prima facie breach of privilege.

That’s a very fast overview of a complicated situation. But the key points are this — the Liberals made a purely political decision that cost the taxpayers huge money, and they are obviously reluctant to release documents that would establish exactly how much money it cost. And they are sticking to that. On Friday, the day after the ruling, when the opposition parties were demanding the Liberals release the documents immediately, Premier McGunity again refused, saying two things: That the negotiations concerning the Oakville plant’s cancellation are not yet complete and that releasing the figures could harm that process, and, also, that the opposition should stop playing political games.

There may be truth to the first argument — since nothing’s been released, who can say? But the second argument is patently absurd. It’s the Liberals who are playing political games with other people’s money. They’ve been doing so from the beginning. They still are. They clearly wish to continue doing that. In calling them out on it and demanding that the documents detailing the government’s use of taxpayer monies be released, the opposition isn’t playing games. They’re calling out the Liberals for their games.

It’s undeniable, of course, that the opposition are seeking political advantage. But that’s par for the course. Hammering your opponents when they’re vulnerable on a legitimate matter of public interest isn’t playing games. It’s literally the job of the opposition. And, let it be noted, no less an authority on legitimate government business than the Speaker of the Legislature has already agreed that the opposition is within their rights to ask for the information. Games are certainly being played here, but by the Liberals, not the opposition.

And to McGuinty’s first point, if there are indeed ongoing negotiations between the province and the company that had been scheduled to build the now-cancelled plant, fine. The Liberals should bring opposition members into their confidence, provide the parties with the information, and thus satisfy the Speaker’s demand for disclosure to avoid a finding of contempt. It would then be incumbent on the opposition to use that information prudently — mainly, to not release it until negotiations are concluded and the province no longer needs keep the process confidential. That would be a reasonable compromise that would satisfy the opposition, the Speaker and respect the province’s business interests. If the opposition then released the figure, thus harming the ongoing negotiations, then the Liberals would have every right to make a case to the voters that the opposition had put politics before the province.

Like the Liberals have been doing. The Liberals tried to play games with taxpayers money to win elections, and got caught. There’s no way around that now. It’s time for them to fess up. Until then, at the very least, it would behoove them to stop accusing the opposition of playing games. Their house is made of glass far too fragile to long survive the throwing of those kinds of stones.